Friday, June 10, 2016

It is crucial to note that the Augustinian motto Wyatt chooses reads “Dilige et quod vis fac” (“Love, and do what you want to”), not the more popular form “Amo et fac quod vis” — that is, Wyatt prefers the verb meaning “to esteem and care for” over that meaning “to love passionately.”

I have come to think that the best description of sin occurs in Philip Larkin's poem "Aubade":
"… the good not done, the love not given, time torn off unused."

The conclusion of this piece is something I often think of myself:

There was clearly a historical Christ — and he’s been variously described as a radical, a teacher, a philosopher, and a madman by those who do not accept his divinity. That’s all fine. But there were hundreds of radicals, teachers, philosophers, and madmen wandering around Judea two millennia ago, and Christ may not have been anything special by these lights. What was it about Christ that made him stick, especially in the minds of artists? Or was it that Christ was special indeed, at least to those whose work constitutes the Western tradition?

Since Guillaume de Machaut is mentioned, here is his great Messe de Notre Dame: